Ok, I'll be honest - I started out only wanting to cook the traditional Chinese-style beef with ginger and green onions for dinner. Somehow, I decided to use different ingredients while cooking and actually accidentally poured about 1/4 cup of mirin into the pot when I only meant to use about 1-2 tbsp! But, the beef turned out to be more delicious than usual! So I guess this was an accident that turned out 'right'?!! Mirin is actually sweet cooking sake and instead of using the traditional Chinese rice wine, I decided to put a little Japanese twist by using traditional sake and also the mirin in place of sugar.

Ingredients:

2 flank steaks, sliced thinly

3-4 garlic cloves, smashed and skinned

4 stalks green onions, chopped diagonally

3-4 slices fresh ginger

2 tbsp dark soy sauce

1/4 cup of mirin

1 tsp of sake

Method:

Heat about 1 tbsp of cooking oil in the claypot. Saute the garlic, green onions and ginger until fragrant. Next, add in the beef slices. Now, add the dark soy sauce, mirin and sake. Add about 1/4 cup of water and let the beef simmer until done. Add a dash of pepper (optional). Serve hot.

As a huge fan of soup - I decided to feature this simple soup which uses a variety of vegetables with chicken as the 'meat-base' for the broth. I'm not sure about the origins of this particular soup but my mom served this regularly in Malaysia and a version of this soup is popularly known as "ABC Soup" in Malaysia - I truly don't know why! The ingredients are available at any grocery store, and there's no need to go to the Asian store! Anyway, soup is so easy to make and tasty plus comforting especially on a cold day (yes, I could go on!). Just remember not to add water at all during the boiling process, if not, no amount of chicken powder/salt will get rid of that unmistakable 'watery' taste! hehe

Ingredients:

3 med size carrots, peeled and chopped into 1 inch pieces

4 stalks celery, chopped as well

2 white potatoes, peeled

3-4 tomatoes (quantity depending on how sour you want the soup to tastes) - I put mine in whole

1 small whole chicken or 3-4 chicken thighs (skinned to lessen fat)

Salt to taste

Method:

Boil about 10-12 cups of water in a large soup pot. Do not fill the water to the top as when you put in the ingredients, obviously the water will overflow. Add in the carrots, celery, potatoes and tomatoes once the water boils. Add in the chicken. Bring to a boil again. Now turn the heat down to low and let it simmer for about 4 hours uncovered. The soup should have reduced to about 1/3 of its quantity by the end of the 4 hour period. Add salt to taste. Serve hot.

I love the texture of squid - this dish combines crunchy squid bites packed with some heat from the bird's eye chillis and the fragrant aroma of garlic. The level of heat you desire may be adjusted according to how many chillis you put in - you may also remove the seeds and soak the chillis in cold water for a bit to lower the heat factor. This makes a great main course or may be served as appetizers at parties!

Method:Heat enough cooking oil to deep-fry the squid bites. Dredge the squid pieces into the corn flour before frying. Once cooked, this should take about 10 minutes as squid cook really quick. Remove from hot oil. Discard the oil leaving about 1 tbsp in the pan. Meanwhile, place the cooked squid onto some oil-absorbent towels. Saute the garlic, green onions and chillis in the remaining oil until fragrant. Now, place the fried squid back into the pan and coat evenly with the garlic, green onion and chilli slices. Add the salt and a dash of pepper. Serve hot.

You can use any types of whitefish for this recipe. The fillets are simply pan-fried in oil that was just used for cooking the garlic, green onion and ginger slices in order for the fish to have the lovely aroma. Next, simply make a simple sauce of soy and sugar and pour on top of the fish. Garnish with some vertically sliced green onions, pleasing to the eye and palate!

You have to try this dish! This is my ultimate favourite shrimp/ prawn recipe among all my recipes. Sweet and savoury, the black bean sauce adds the needed touch to this sure to be crowd pleaser. Simple to make with excellent flavours, it's hard to not love this dish. This is my version of a family favourite prawn dish we always order at our favourite 'outdoor' Chinese 'restaurant' in Malaysia. This was my first try at recreating this dish and needless to say, I was exceedingly pleased at the succulent results!

Heat up your wok. Once hot, pour about 1 tbsp cooking oil and swirl pan/wok to coat. Next, saute the garlic, ginger and green onions until fragrant. Turn the heat to low. Add in the sauce ingredients, the dark soy sauce and the sugar should be mixed in a separate bowl first. This is to allow for tasting. Adjust the dark soy sauce and sugar quantities accordingly to taste. Mix well with the garlic, ginger and green onion slices. Turn up the heat and add in the prawns. The prawns should not take long to cook. Toss the prawns around in the sauce, coating evenly. Do NOT add water into this dish at all. Once the prawns are cooked, your dish is ready to be served!

So, in the interest of relatively healthier foods, I bought some whole wheat noodles from the local Asian grocery store and was delightfully surprised by the flavour and the texture of the high fibre whole wheat noodles. I wanted a simple meal after a day of shopping (as shopping IS tiring!), I decided to toss together some pork slivers and noodles flavoured with green onions, shallots and some garlic. Of course, I had to have my noodles with some bird's eye chillis (I wish for cili padi) in soy sauce!

Ingredients:

2 packets whole wheat noodles (you may substitute with whichever noodles that you may like)

1 tbsp minced/ sliced garlic

1 tbsp sliced green onions

1 tbsp minced shallots

1/2 pound of pork slivers/ slices (I bought this already sliced at the grocery store which is definitely saves time!)

Sauce:

3-4 tbsp dark soy sauce

1 1/2-2 tbsp oyster sauce

2 tbsp water

1 tsp sugar

Dash of sesame oil

Dash of pepper (optional)

Method:

First, prepare the noodles by boiling them for about 3 minutes. Strain and use some cold water to 'wash' off the starchiness. Set aside. Next, coat a wok or a pan with about 1 tbsp of cooking oil by swirling around. Once hot, place the garlic, green onions and shallots into the oil and adjust the heat accordingly to ensure that the ingredients don't get burnt. Saute until fragrant. Now, add in the pork slivers (you may also substitute with chicken if you like). Add the sauce ingredients into the mix and stir-fry the pork until cooked. Finally, add in the cooked noodles and coat the noodles with the sauce mixture as evenly as you can. The quantities in the sauce merely serve as a guide, please adjust the quantities according to taste. Dish out and sprinkle some chopped green onions on top for some colour.

I had a great craving for some hot soup this week so I decided to make some lotus root soup with spare ribs today - soup is definitely a comfort food for me and I can have a whole meal with just a bowl of hot, almost scalding soup with some rice. I love to dip the pork and the lotus root slices in soy sauce flavoured with chilli peppers (bird's eye chilli). Soup is really easy to make, just dump the ingredients in the pot with water and let it boil at low heat for about 3-4 hours. Never add water while the soup is boiling even if you think there's not enough soup. It will render your soup flavourless. Lotus roots are delicious plus nutritious and apart from being boiled in soup, they can be sliced thinly and used in stir-frys or deep-fried to make lotus root chips.

Smoky Wok

Smoky Wok

Smoky Wok

SPOTLIGHT

The Yuen Chun brand of sauces has long been my preferred brand for most of my cooking needs. Their range of delicious sauces will add authentic flavour and irresistible flair to your cooking. Check out my range of Yuen Chun recipes that showcase how versatile their sauces are. Stay tuned for their latest products and updates on their Facebook Page .